Australian CPI up 1.4% in Mar 2023 quarter; annual rise at 7.0%: ABS

27 Apr '23

2 min read

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Australia's CPI rose by 1.4 per cent in Q1 2023 and by 7 per cent annually, with falls in clothing prices offsetting higher gas and household fuel costs.
Underlying inflation measures reduced the impact of temporary price changes, with annual trimmed mean inflation at 6.6 per cent.
The monthly CPI indicator for March rose by 6.3 per cent YoY.

Australia’s consumer price index (CPI) rose 1.4 per cent in the March 2023 quarter and 7.0 per cent annually, as per the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Discounting activity by retailers resulted in falls across goods including clothing at -3.2 per cent.

Price reviews reflecting higher wholesale gas prices led to rises in gas and other household fuels, with rises seen across all eight capital cities and the strongest rise recorded in Melbourne at 22.7 per cent. Higher prices reflected major events over the past year including the ongoing war in Ukraine and unplanned outages at coal fired power stations, ABS said in a media release.

Underlying inflation measures reduce the impact of irregular or temporary price changes in the CPI. Annual trimmed mean inflation was 6.6 per cent, down from 6.9 per cent in the December quarter. The monthly indicator rose 6.3 per cent in the 12 months to March, following annual rises of 6.8 per cent in February and 7.4 per cent in January.

Michelle Marquardt, ABS’ head of prices statistics, said: “CPI inflation slowed in the March quarter, with the quarterly rise being the lowest since December 2021. While prices continued to rise for most goods and services, many of these increases were smaller than they have been in recent quarters. This quarter’s rise was notable as prices increased in all eight capital cities, whereas typically only Melbourne’s prices are reviewed in the March quarter. The annual increase in March of 7.0 per cent was lower than the 7.8 per cent rise in December and 7.3 per cent rise in September.

“Annual inflation for goods of 7.6 per cent was down from the 9.5 per cent recorded in December, due to price falls for goods such as furniture, household appliances and clothing in the March quarter, as well as automotive fuel prices easing in recent quarters. However, annual inflation for services was 6.1 per cent, up from 5.5 per cent in the December quarter and is the highest since 2001. The annual movement for the monthly indicator eased for a third consecutive month in March. Automotive fuel prices fell through the year at -8.2 per cent, reflecting a year since the initial spike in oil prices when Ukraine was first invaded.”

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